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The Arabs. Journeys Beyond the Mirage
The Journeys Beyond the David The Journeys Beyond the Vintage Publishing FIRST First Edition, First Printing. Not price-clipped. Published by Vintage, 1987. Octavo. Paperback. Book is very good with light shelfwear. 100% positive feedback. 30 day money back guarantee. NEXT DAY SHIPPING! Excellent customer service. Please email with any questions. All books packed carefully and ship with free delivery confirmation/tracking. All books come with free bookmarks. Ships from Sag Harbor, New York.Seller 334024 History We Buy Books! Collections - Libraries - Estates - Individual Titles. Message us if you have books to sell!
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
20 people are currently reading
242 people want to read
About the author
David Lamb
79 books19 followersDavid Lamb's work has appeared in numbers publications, from National Geographic to Sports Illustrated. He has been a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, an Alicia Patterson Fellow and a wrier-in-residence at the University of Southern California. Lamb is the author of six books on subjects as diverse as Africa and minor league baseball. His most recent book is "Vietnam, Now: A Reporter Returns". He is a member of the Maine Newspaper Hall of Fame.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
August 6, 2021
The Arab story told by an American in Arabia around the time of the Gulf War.
Not much has changed since, he wrote then. Even today, not much has changed.
Not much has changed since, he wrote then. Even today, not much has changed.
May 25, 2015
This is a good introduction to the study of Arabic people. The emphasis is on contemporary Arab life and times, with a little history thrown in, and a good deal of time spent on politics, wars, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Lamb is a reporter who spent 5 years covering the Middle East for the L.A. Times. The book was written in 1985, so much of what is in here is way past current, but it still makes for informative reading.
The pervasiveness and supremacy of Islam in Arab life is discussed here. One chapter that I particularly enjoyed give a brief description of the life of the prophet Muhammed and the spread of Islam. It is a fascinating phenomenon, and I am glad to not be part of it. It is a static and rigid way of life; all the answers for how to live are in the Koran, and there is virtually no room left for development of the society or the spirit. (At least that is how it seemed to me when I read this.)
The book is full of interesting little facts. There are amusing descriptions of Arab men in suits drinking whiskey on airplanes bound for the Persian Gulf; the next day they are in caftans, lecturing on the evils of alcohol. Arabs are generally capitalistic and materialistic, and the number of religious fanatics is small. There is a discussion of the role of women in Islamic society. One chapter focuses on the sudden influx of wealth into formerly poor, dusty little backwaters like Bahrain. Another sections examines Saudi Arabia, a highly conservative kingdom ruled by the offspring of the great King Saud, who had 42 sons. This is a place in which movies, backgammon, and chess have all been banned as being un-Islamic. Islamic fundamentalism is seen as a response by uneducated Arabs, whose ways of life have generally been unchanged for centuries, to the jarring changes of the 20th and 21st centuries.
After reading this, I felt that I had a better understanding of the Arab world, which is an important thing for Yanks, given the unfair portrayals of Muslims and Arabs that our media often gives us.
The pervasiveness and supremacy of Islam in Arab life is discussed here. One chapter that I particularly enjoyed give a brief description of the life of the prophet Muhammed and the spread of Islam. It is a fascinating phenomenon, and I am glad to not be part of it. It is a static and rigid way of life; all the answers for how to live are in the Koran, and there is virtually no room left for development of the society or the spirit. (At least that is how it seemed to me when I read this.)
The book is full of interesting little facts. There are amusing descriptions of Arab men in suits drinking whiskey on airplanes bound for the Persian Gulf; the next day they are in caftans, lecturing on the evils of alcohol. Arabs are generally capitalistic and materialistic, and the number of religious fanatics is small. There is a discussion of the role of women in Islamic society. One chapter focuses on the sudden influx of wealth into formerly poor, dusty little backwaters like Bahrain. Another sections examines Saudi Arabia, a highly conservative kingdom ruled by the offspring of the great King Saud, who had 42 sons. This is a place in which movies, backgammon, and chess have all been banned as being un-Islamic. Islamic fundamentalism is seen as a response by uneducated Arabs, whose ways of life have generally been unchanged for centuries, to the jarring changes of the 20th and 21st centuries.
After reading this, I felt that I had a better understanding of the Arab world, which is an important thing for Yanks, given the unfair portrayals of Muslims and Arabs that our media often gives us.
October 23, 2011
A good read if you are expecting repertoire collection of anecdotes and personal experiences related to Egypt (specifically Cairo), Dubai and Saudi arabia.
Read
November 7, 2017read for school, Fall 2017
January 1, 2023
I picked up the book the day after the hosting of the first football World Cup in the Arab world - Qatar. When the first World Cup rolled out in 1930, Arab states are just colonies of Italy, Britain and France without much to offer other than hot deserts and trade (ship) routes with small desert population. We have to remember, these were the places where some significant human history were thrived - Mesopotamian, Egyptian civilisation, first human farming, seat of religious monuments of 3 major religions, etc.
What happened since the oil discovery and creation of Israel changed the Arab region (and World) forever. No other region has been more important in my generation than Arab region. So I was curious and excited to learn.
I became fan of David Lamb after reading “Africans”. When I picked up this book, I knew I will some fresh I insights about the region and not getting bored. I was not wrong, i enjoyed reading but I was not big fan of his long sentences separated with commas. (May be I am too millennial for his writings)!
Good book to start if you want to learn about the region.
Jay.
What happened since the oil discovery and creation of Israel changed the Arab region (and World) forever. No other region has been more important in my generation than Arab region. So I was curious and excited to learn.
I became fan of David Lamb after reading “Africans”. When I picked up this book, I knew I will some fresh I insights about the region and not getting bored. I was not wrong, i enjoyed reading but I was not big fan of his long sentences separated with commas. (May be I am too millennial for his writings)!
Good book to start if you want to learn about the region.
Jay.
January 20, 2019
In The Arabs we join David Lamb on his journeys from the Atlantic coast of North Africa to the Persian Gulf through a series of vignette-style chapters. Lamb's writing is superb; a fitting notion as he is/was a writer for the Los Angeles Times. And that is the real gem of this book.
The author doesn't proclaim to be an expert or an Arabist, he's simply a journalist recounting his time covering the region. We get just enough history, reporting, and personal experiences to keep it interesting. Tales of the birth of Islam along with it's subsequent conquests are woven, seamlessly, with stories of Coptic slums in Cairo, filthy rich sheiks in Bahrain, massacres in Beirut, and a western-oriented monarch in Morocco.
Stylistically, the book is flawless. By choosing the aforementioned "vignette"style, the author is able to transition effortlessly through time and space to cover the entire Arab world, as well as other areas and peoples in the region including Israel, Iran, Turkey, Kurds, etc. in rought 350 pages.
David Lamb's The Arabs is a great introduction to the region for the uninitiated (despite being slightly dated) and still a stellar read for those already immersed in the region.
The author doesn't proclaim to be an expert or an Arabist, he's simply a journalist recounting his time covering the region. We get just enough history, reporting, and personal experiences to keep it interesting. Tales of the birth of Islam along with it's subsequent conquests are woven, seamlessly, with stories of Coptic slums in Cairo, filthy rich sheiks in Bahrain, massacres in Beirut, and a western-oriented monarch in Morocco.
Stylistically, the book is flawless. By choosing the aforementioned "vignette"style, the author is able to transition effortlessly through time and space to cover the entire Arab world, as well as other areas and peoples in the region including Israel, Iran, Turkey, Kurds, etc. in rought 350 pages.
David Lamb's The Arabs is a great introduction to the region for the uninitiated (despite being slightly dated) and still a stellar read for those already immersed in the region.
June 18, 2011
Having recently returned from Morocco, I picked this up and had a hard time putting it down. I had never before been to a predominantly Muslim country and what I encountered was more different than I could have imagined.
I was with a group of faculty from U.S. colleges and universities, and we attended a series of lectures and site visits. I was struck when one of the speakers described the importance of not rocking the boat. If someone didn't agree with a certain practice or religious ideal, he said, they should discreetly do their own thing in the privacy of their own home rather than publicly question the issue at hand. You can't get much further away from the independent, individualistic values of the West.
The practice of censorship also looms large. If anyone criticizes the King (especially in print, as journalists have done), he is in danger of investigation and prison. Moroccans speak very highly of their king -- who owns royal palaces throughout a nation where poverty and illiteracy are widespread -- but you wonder whether or not their words are genuine. To speak against the King, or against Islam, is asking for it.
Perhaps the most frustrating element was the inability to cut through the official "party line" on everything from gender inequality to human rights abuses. Time and again people, even academics, were unwilling to admit and explore problems facing the country. Instead, they reassured us that Morocco is a progressive, hospitable place. While that may be true, there are a host of issues that deserve attention and honest dialogue. Having grown up elsewhere, it's hard for me to understand and operate within this framework.
I came back with so many questions and a thirst for more information about not only Morocco, but the whole of the Arab and Muslim world, its history, its relations with other nations, its direction for the future. I found Lamb's book to be an excellent place to start. It's a bit dated (first published in the 80s, and then re-released with updates in 2002), but it provides an engaging historical narrative that helps put what I encountered into perspective. I found myself nodding many times to observations that he made, as I witnessed them, too. It's certainly not a be-all, end-all treatise on the Arab world, but it's a good place to get a grounding before moving on to more in-depth, scholarly examinations.
As a citizen of the world, everyone ought to read this. And trust me, it's not dry and it's not boring. It's well-written, engaging, and chock full of interesting facts and personal encounters with people across the Arab world.
I was with a group of faculty from U.S. colleges and universities, and we attended a series of lectures and site visits. I was struck when one of the speakers described the importance of not rocking the boat. If someone didn't agree with a certain practice or religious ideal, he said, they should discreetly do their own thing in the privacy of their own home rather than publicly question the issue at hand. You can't get much further away from the independent, individualistic values of the West.
The practice of censorship also looms large. If anyone criticizes the King (especially in print, as journalists have done), he is in danger of investigation and prison. Moroccans speak very highly of their king -- who owns royal palaces throughout a nation where poverty and illiteracy are widespread -- but you wonder whether or not their words are genuine. To speak against the King, or against Islam, is asking for it.
Perhaps the most frustrating element was the inability to cut through the official "party line" on everything from gender inequality to human rights abuses. Time and again people, even academics, were unwilling to admit and explore problems facing the country. Instead, they reassured us that Morocco is a progressive, hospitable place. While that may be true, there are a host of issues that deserve attention and honest dialogue. Having grown up elsewhere, it's hard for me to understand and operate within this framework.
I came back with so many questions and a thirst for more information about not only Morocco, but the whole of the Arab and Muslim world, its history, its relations with other nations, its direction for the future. I found Lamb's book to be an excellent place to start. It's a bit dated (first published in the 80s, and then re-released with updates in 2002), but it provides an engaging historical narrative that helps put what I encountered into perspective. I found myself nodding many times to observations that he made, as I witnessed them, too. It's certainly not a be-all, end-all treatise on the Arab world, but it's a good place to get a grounding before moving on to more in-depth, scholarly examinations.
As a citizen of the world, everyone ought to read this. And trust me, it's not dry and it's not boring. It's well-written, engaging, and chock full of interesting facts and personal encounters with people across the Arab world.
August 18, 2008
I found this book by accident as I was looking for books on the Middle East. The title alone "The Arabs: Journeys Beyond the Mirage" suggested I would be in for a look at the mindset and culture behind the Arab people and culture - something I have been eager for due to my recent relocation to the Gulf. Little did I know that by "Arabs", the title meant "Egypt".
The book devoted 75% of its pages to the history and plight of Egypt which the author substantiates by reminding us that Egyptians comprise 1/4th of the Arab world. The Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia (!), benefited from 2 measly chapters, and other states, such as Morocco, were covered in less than one chapter.
That's all well and good but then the title of the book should have been "Cairo" or "Egypt". The author spent his time in the region living in Cairo so I guess that explains his fixation/bias. I just want him to be upfront about it.
My second gripe. This book was originally written and published in the mid/late 1980s. On the cover of the 2002 edition I purchased, it reads "Revised and Updated". But really, the author saw fit to edit each chapter here and there with cheeky speculation on the fate of the Middle East in 3-4 paragraphs. Amid the post-9/11 world, this simply does not suffice.
2 Stars in my rating system means the book is "okay". If you want a quick, readable survey of 20th century Middle Eastern political events (heavy on Egypt and Israel-Palestine), this is your book. If you want to dig deeper, as the title suggests, I suggest you keep looking on the shelves.
The book devoted 75% of its pages to the history and plight of Egypt which the author substantiates by reminding us that Egyptians comprise 1/4th of the Arab world. The Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia (!), benefited from 2 measly chapters, and other states, such as Morocco, were covered in less than one chapter.
That's all well and good but then the title of the book should have been "Cairo" or "Egypt". The author spent his time in the region living in Cairo so I guess that explains his fixation/bias. I just want him to be upfront about it.
My second gripe. This book was originally written and published in the mid/late 1980s. On the cover of the 2002 edition I purchased, it reads "Revised and Updated". But really, the author saw fit to edit each chapter here and there with cheeky speculation on the fate of the Middle East in 3-4 paragraphs. Amid the post-9/11 world, this simply does not suffice.
2 Stars in my rating system means the book is "okay". If you want a quick, readable survey of 20th century Middle Eastern political events (heavy on Egypt and Israel-Palestine), this is your book. If you want to dig deeper, as the title suggests, I suggest you keep looking on the shelves.
February 3, 2023
Absolutely tremendous. Balanced, insightful, challenging; a great read.
Truly informative - I wonder what updates the author could add based on developments in the past 20 years from the original update in 2002?
There are some superb passages; the recognition of difference and the schisms provided by perception and the lost opportunities of ignorance.
A reminder of history in the making and the consequences of some decisions after WW2 as well as policy since then and some interesting stats.
I would recommend this book for all, and should be required reading.Read it, an read it again.n
Truly informative - I wonder what updates the author could add based on developments in the past 20 years from the original update in 2002?
There are some superb passages; the recognition of difference and the schisms provided by perception and the lost opportunities of ignorance.
A reminder of history in the making and the consequences of some decisions after WW2 as well as policy since then and some interesting stats.
I would recommend this book for all, and should be required reading.Read it, an read it again.n
December 1, 2020
The book is woefully outdated, but I wanted to read it to try and obtain a better understanding of how the mid-East was evolving and to see the differences between the Shiite and Sunni divisions of Islam. In that regard, the book did what I was hoping for.
August 10, 2025
Excellent read and excellent analysis and commentary on Arabs as a people and culture. Thought provoking and insightful. A great history of the region as well. Written almost forty years ago and updated twenty five years ago, it is still very accurate in its findings.
January 25, 2024
This would be a good place to start if you want to discover a little bit about the history of the Arab nations and their culture.
May 2, 2024
Refreshing take!!
January 11, 2025
very nice reading
An interesting insight into the Arab world for better understanding of the world. This s exactly why I bought this book.
An interesting insight into the Arab world for better understanding of the world. This s exactly why I bought this book.
March 1, 2016
As an Arab, I knew this was going to be a sad read about the history of my home. And surely, it was. The complex history combined with the rapid development of the Arab world is certainly interesting from a political and sociological point of view.
The author has done a tremendous amount of research and has spoken to and interviewed some of the most powerful and important people in the region from Iraq's Hussein to Bahraini ministers.
I enjoyed and was frustrated by reading this book. It begs the question: what can I do, as an Arab? Can an individual alter the course of history? The Arab world has shown that you certainly can, but not necessarily should.
I highly recommend the read for anyone interested in the Arab world - be you Arab, American, both, or neither. The author is considered an outsider by Arab standards, but that reason is precisely why I enjoyed the book.
The book is slightly outdated, but the fruits of the research still apply to this very day - brilliantly, but sadly enough. Even though the road ahead may be dark for us, the Arabs, moving forward, I still very much hope that we at least take the first step in the long journey towards Arab freedom, education, and eventually prosperity based on intellect rather than resource. The most important lesson I personally gained from the book is that we are responsible for our actions, and ultimately our destiny.
The author has done a tremendous amount of research and has spoken to and interviewed some of the most powerful and important people in the region from Iraq's Hussein to Bahraini ministers.
I enjoyed and was frustrated by reading this book. It begs the question: what can I do, as an Arab? Can an individual alter the course of history? The Arab world has shown that you certainly can, but not necessarily should.
I highly recommend the read for anyone interested in the Arab world - be you Arab, American, both, or neither. The author is considered an outsider by Arab standards, but that reason is precisely why I enjoyed the book.
The book is slightly outdated, but the fruits of the research still apply to this very day - brilliantly, but sadly enough. Even though the road ahead may be dark for us, the Arabs, moving forward, I still very much hope that we at least take the first step in the long journey towards Arab freedom, education, and eventually prosperity based on intellect rather than resource. The most important lesson I personally gained from the book is that we are responsible for our actions, and ultimately our destiny.
September 8, 2013
I so appreciated this book, and yes the author did have an unbaised outlook, as much as possible.
What I really loved about the book, is his love and passion for the people he met and interviewed.
And that he visited and commented on each Arab country, the beginnings, politics, the people and obviously how oil changed those countries.
I do know a lot have changed in the time of his writing of his book, but that is why I love reading these books, like Thesinger's travels, before all the wealth and the way it was before.
Yes I will always find the changes interesting and especially people's and nations reactions to the changes. A lot was explained to me in this book of how the Arab nations work, how Islam is such an integral part, but also such a divider of peoples. Like the Bible is for so many too. But it is all in the interpretation as far as I can see.
Anyway as you can see I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I would love to read more on the subject.
Not everything, regilion or people are totally bad or totally good. It is made up of humans who are just human.
And the most telling thing the author said was that even if Israel didnt exist or is no more, there still wouldn't be peace in the Middle East, because of power plays and greed between the Arab nations.
Fascinating isn't it and a very telling piece of information.
What I really loved about the book, is his love and passion for the people he met and interviewed.
And that he visited and commented on each Arab country, the beginnings, politics, the people and obviously how oil changed those countries.
I do know a lot have changed in the time of his writing of his book, but that is why I love reading these books, like Thesinger's travels, before all the wealth and the way it was before.
Yes I will always find the changes interesting and especially people's and nations reactions to the changes. A lot was explained to me in this book of how the Arab nations work, how Islam is such an integral part, but also such a divider of peoples. Like the Bible is for so many too. But it is all in the interpretation as far as I can see.
Anyway as you can see I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I would love to read more on the subject.
Not everything, regilion or people are totally bad or totally good. It is made up of humans who are just human.
And the most telling thing the author said was that even if Israel didnt exist or is no more, there still wouldn't be peace in the Middle East, because of power plays and greed between the Arab nations.
Fascinating isn't it and a very telling piece of information.
June 2, 2009
This is a very eye-opening book written by a journalist who spent many years in several different Middle Eastern countries. I knew relatively little about Arab culture and society before I read this book, but after finishing this book I feel like I can start to understand both how similar and different the Middle East is from the Western world.
Particularly refreshing about this book is the way Lamb wrote about interaction and relations with Israel and the West without couching everything in "Arabs hate Israel and want to drive Jews into the sea" rhetoric. In my experience it is awfully difficult to read about the Middle East without everything revolving around Israel, but David Lamb does a tremendous job providing a balanced and unbiased view of the Middle East.
Particularly refreshing about this book is the way Lamb wrote about interaction and relations with Israel and the West without couching everything in "Arabs hate Israel and want to drive Jews into the sea" rhetoric. In my experience it is awfully difficult to read about the Middle East without everything revolving around Israel, but David Lamb does a tremendous job providing a balanced and unbiased view of the Middle East.
March 11, 2012
While visiting Egypt (albeit in one of the most touristy spots near Sharm El Sheik), I really wanted to learn more about the modern Arab world. Kicking back on a sun lounge, with the Sinai mountains directly behind me, I found this book not only informative but highly entertaining. David Lamb is a journalist, not a historian, which means he doesn't just focus on the facts - he actually met and spoke with a lot of the characters in the world of Arab politics, and describes his experiences subjectively. If you want to understand the back stories to everything that happened in this region over the past 50 years, this book is well worth it. And you don't have to go to a tourist resort to enjoy it.
February 16, 2018
While this book is a bit dated, I found it to be fairly comprehensive and insightful about the region and people that we hear so much about on the news. I would be interested to see what David Lamb thinks/knows about the Arab Spring and the Syrian civil war, given that he predicted the Egyptian and Libyan revolutions in the book.
I thought Lamb's accounts seemed unbiased, and he was able to provide the historical background that is so necessary to begin to understand events and culture of the Middle East. He presented both the big picture and individual stories from people across the Arab world that made the book more personal. It was worth the read to gain a better understanding of a region that is so relevant in today's world.
I thought Lamb's accounts seemed unbiased, and he was able to provide the historical background that is so necessary to begin to understand events and culture of the Middle East. He presented both the big picture and individual stories from people across the Arab world that made the book more personal. It was worth the read to gain a better understanding of a region that is so relevant in today's world.
January 26, 2009
This book had a lot of insights, but the final table of countries and capital cities erroneously lists Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel; and the book starts with a statement that the Israeli embassy officials sat with him for hours, answering his questions and offering more information. Obviously, he wasn't hearing anything that was related to his purpose. As a perspective of Arabs, Sadaam Hussein, Nasralla, and other figures in the 1980s, it's a great find. Its chapter on Israel/Palestine (The Twice Promised Land) is a useless attempt at objectivity that does not help explain either side.
June 17, 2009
There can be no real separation of church and state because Islam is interwoven into every fabric and every moment of the Muslim’s life.
Lamb does a wonderful job of giving a real sense of who the Arabs actually are, and why and what made them that way. He gives details of the Middle East conflict, the roots of terrorism, Islam, and many specifics about certain Arab leaders and the lives they led/lead. I would highly recommend this in order to understand that American views on the Arab world are, overall, based on a high level of ignorance.
Lamb does a wonderful job of giving a real sense of who the Arabs actually are, and why and what made them that way. He gives details of the Middle East conflict, the roots of terrorism, Islam, and many specifics about certain Arab leaders and the lives they led/lead. I would highly recommend this in order to understand that American views on the Arab world are, overall, based on a high level of ignorance.
September 21, 2011
If you could pick one book for a quick, easily readable, insightful view of Arab culture and viewpoints, and of Islam as well, this one has got to be a candidate. Author David Lamb, a foreign correspondent at the time, wrote this several years before the fall of the Soviet Union and more than a decade prior to 9-11. Much has changed since those two events, but much also remains the same. His experiences in the Arab world and the understanding he gained of it are as vital today as they were then.
February 9, 2013
This was a great introductory reading to introduce someone to the modern Middle East. The methodology in which David Lamb organizes the book, is in a very easy to read format. Extremely informative and educational!
January 1, 2016
good review of all of the Arab countries, their history, culture, religions, etc. This was another of the books about the middle east that have helped me learn about them and the background behind the current struggles.
September 21, 2008
Really great overview of Arab history, culture, and tensions. I wish it were more current, but it's still useful.
March 4, 2009
Great overview...
July 1, 2010
Why: It's been on the shelf for years next to The Africans, an excellent book of African anecdotes, and I needed some books for beach week.
Review: Excellent review of the Middle East up to 1984
Review: Excellent review of the Middle East up to 1984
October 23, 2010
Not bad. Some insight.
March 6, 2012
Liked this book very much. It's a little out of date, but still very informative, objective and easy to read.
Read
September 24, 2012These are people we need to know.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews